Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’ (BIP) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $40.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 18.55% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.20.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BIP traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $33.74. 92,870 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 347,095. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $15.66 billion, a PE ratio of -88.91 and a beta of 1.07. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a fifty-two week low of $24.84 and a fifty-two week high of $36.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 0.02% and a net margin of 0.03%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,675,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $848,018,000 after acquiring an additional 2,866,195 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 24.6% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,003,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,273,000 after buying an additional 790,078 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 5.4% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,550,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,362,000 after buying an additional 130,371 shares during the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 101.0% in the third quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,587,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,783,000 after buying an additional 797,649 shares during the period. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 1.7% during the third quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,225,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,933,000 after acquiring an additional 20,610 shares during the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 2,900 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 8.1 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 0.6 million long-term contracted sub-metering services.